Effect of preparatory processes on physical properties of cotton fabric

Abstract

Cotton is a natural fibre. Natural fibres generally have some primary and secondary impurities which are present naturally or are added during the course of spinning, knitting, weaving and some after treatments like starching, etc. These impurities need to be eliminated, therefore the fabrics are subjected to preparatory treatments including desizing and scouring. The present study was planned to check the effect of preparatory processes on physical properties of cotton fabric. After desizing and scouring, physical properties of fabric were tested using standard test methods. The results of the study indicated that all geometrical properties i.e. fabric count, weight per unit area and thickness of cotton fabric increased non-significantly after desizing and scouring. The results also showed that the tensile strength decreased while the elongation increased non- significantly. It was also found that there was increase in bending length and flexural rigidity whereas air permeability and moisture regain decreased after desizing and scouring of the cotton fabric.